I found myself today studying the book of Ruth. If you’ve
grown up going to church, you know the basic story of Ruth. She is faithful to her mother-in-law Naomi and
eventually meets Boaz and marries him. Yes, but no, it’s a story filled with
examples of what living a life full of faith truly looks like. Naomi, a woman
of God lost her husband due to a famine being in the land. Not only that, ten
years later her only two sons who had married Moabite women, they too died.
But this trial, it didn’t waver Naomi’s faith. She decided
that they now because had no men to lead them, that she was going to go back to
the land of Judah where she had come from. Instead of running away from the
Lord, she wanted to put herself amongst the people of God that would lift her up
and remind her of the promises of the Lord. But, she also wanted to be faithful
to her two daughter in laws, Orpah and Ruth. She told them to return to their
people, for they no longer had any reason to be with her. But what we see in
Ruth’s response to this statement is incredible.
In 1:14, “Then they lifted up their voices and wept again.
And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.” Both Orpah and Ruth obviously loved their
mother-in-law, for they both wept. But Ruth not only showed her love to Naomi
through tears but through her faithfulness to her in taking action.
In verse 16 it says, “But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to
leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and
where you lodge I will lodge. Your
people shall be my people, and your God my God.’” Right there, is the first
time that scriptures show Ruth to be a child of God. She forsakes the gods of
the Moabites and tells Naomi that she is going to live for her God, the God of
Israel! Naomi’s life of faith obviously had an impact on Ruth. Are you living a
life full of faith that your actions are inspiring other to want to forsake
this world and live a life for the Lord?
I’m not going to go into to too much more detail, for Ruth
is a very short book and I’d encourage you to pick up your bible and study it
on your own. But as Ruth and Naomi are faithful in little, the Lord blesses
them in rich ways!
Boaz says to Ruth in 2:11-12, “’All that you have done for
your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me,
and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a
people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done,
and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wing
you have come to take refuge!’”
Is that your response after a trial, one of complete faith,
knowing that the Lord knows best? Are you willing to forsake your family for
the Lord? Let us follow in Naomi and Ruth’s examples, no matter what comes our
way. We are called to live a life completely trusting in the sovereignty of the
Lord, taking refuge under his wing! There is no better place to be then knowing
and trusting in the Word of God.
Psalm 36:7, “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The
children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
Psalm 63:7-8, “For you have been my help, and in the shadow
of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
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